Brother cat attacking sister

[Gilly0503]

We have 2 sibling cats who are usually loving and friendly, both desexed. They are nearly 3 years old, called Simba and Nala. Recently we notice Simba attacking Nala. He will lie next to her, clean her a bit and then bite her on her back to grab her, like a mating sign? She shrieks and we shout at him and he runs and hides. No blood or injuries yet but he's just really horrible to her. It's happened about 5 times today already (we're in Australia). Any suggestions to stop him being so horrible to her. I've attached the obligatory picture. 😸

Beauties!

No advice, but they are glorious.

What position are the ears in while this is going on?.

Just watched him do it again and his ears are back. Her ears don't seem to change direction.

My cats go through phases of being absolute arseholes to each other. Generally we leave them to it unless it gets too heated, it's up to them to find their own dynamics and cats get pissed off with one another just like humans do.

I have a Simba too, nice name choice :)

It they don't draw blood then it's not unusual or anything you can change, anyway.

I occasionally pull a sheared off claw out of one of my cats placed by his brother. They stopped being lovey from 1yo, so sounds like you have had an extended honeymoon. Cats are not kind creatures.

I think if it was serious aggression his ears would be flat and there would be loads of noise. Cat fights are mainly noise and posturing, aggression is a last resort.

Ears back = serious play.
Ears flat = proper fighting & you want to avoid injury.

As your in Australia do they go out?.

My pair are brother and sister too (one was even called Simba when he arrived). They get on well and snuggle together all winter. In spring they start squabbling, and he chases her a lot. They spend much more time outside in spring-Autumn and don't spend much time together. Happens every year.

Ours do that. It’s play fighting sometimes sister cat goes too far and poor dopey brother cat ends up with a small cut. Sister particularly enjoys pouncing on him while he’s trying use the litter tray. So we had to get a covered litter tray to stop her doing that.

It used to be the boy cat who would beat his sister up but the girl is now definitely the one in charge.

So long as there’s no injury I’d leave them to it. Ours fight and play together and girl will for no reason at all smack the boys if they walk by her (she’s mean).